Lodatien Language
|} The Lodatien language is a language spoken in Lodamun, originating primarily in several regions of Rapula, and in neighbouring Fuma in Likatonia. Lodatien in both countries is not recognized with any language status, and for many years has been repressed by governments favouring other languages. The Lodatien language has long been regarded as a language of the uneducated. Recently, a movement has emerged in Lodamun to promote the language and spread awareness and recognition of the language, currently to no avail. =Phonology= Lodatien varies throughout the areas it is spoken in, especially in regards the pronunciation of certain consonants and vowels. In all, the consonant inventory of the standard language is given as below. Where two consonants are shown in a cell, the one on the left denotes an unvoiced, and the one on the right denotes the voiced consonant. Consonant Orthography *The letter “b” represents /b/ *The letter “c” in standard Lodatien always represents /k/ *“d” represents /d/ *“f” represents /f/ *“g” always is pronounced /g/ *“h” is pronounced /h/, though in some dialects /h/ has disappeared *“j” represents /ʒ/ and /ʝ/ in free variation. The pronunciation between the two by speakers is dependent on the dialect. A majority pronounce /ʒ/, while a minority of dialects pronounce /ʒ/ after a back vowel or syllable initial and as /ʝ/ after a front vowel. In even fewer dialects, it is pronounced exclusively as /ʝ/. *“l” represents /l/ *“m” represents /m/ *“n” represents /n/ *“p” represents /p/ *“r” represents /ɹ / *“s” represents /s/ *“š” represents /ʃ/ and /ç/ in free variation. The pronunciation between the two by speakers is dependent on the dialect. A majority pronounce /ʃ/, while a minority of dialects pronounce /ʃ/ after a back vowel or syllable initial and as /ç/ after a front vowel. In even fewer dialects, it is pronounced exclusively as /ç/. *“t” represents /t/ *“v” represents /v/ *“z” represents /z/ =Grammar= The following section deals with the grammar of Lodatien. Nouns Every noun in Lodatien has a grammatical gender, being masculine, feminine, or neuter. Nouns with natural gender, representing a living thing (person), or specifying a role or occupation of living things (but specifying the gender of them) are in their natural gender category. For example, nouns of living male things, such as father, brother, and male leader, have a masculine gender. Nouns of living female things, such as mother, sister, and female leader, have a feminine gender. Living things that could be possibly both, either, or neither, tend to be in the neuter. Further, inanimate objects and ideas are also given a gender, masculine, feminine or neuter. Nothing about the thing a noun represents could tell one its gender. However, one can tell by how the word ends. Nouns in Lodatien also have grammatical case. Case in Lodatien shows what role the noun plays in the sentence. In Lodatien, nouns are declined for four cases, the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. The nominative case describes the subject of a sentence, the thing doing the action of the verb. The nominative is also the default case of a noun. The accusative case indicates the direct object of a sentence, the thing receiving the action of the verb. The dative case shows the indirect object of a sentence, to which something is given. The dative case in Lodatien also may function as a lative and prepositional case. The final case is the genitive case, which is used primarily to show a noun modifying another noun, typically as being the possessor of the other noun. How a noun is declined is dependent on what noun class it belongs to (which is aligned to its ending). -or Noun Class I These nouns end in “or” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are masculine nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: -ne Noun Class II These nouns end in “ne” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are feminine nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: -sur Noun Class III These nouns end in “sur” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are neuter nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: -us Noun Class IV These nouns end in “us” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are masculine nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: -as Noun Class V These nouns end in “as” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are feminine nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: -iš Noun Class VI These nouns end in “iš” in the nominative case as singular nouns. All nouns of this class are neuter nouns. The declension of words in this class is as follows: Adjectives Adjectives in Lodatien must agree with the noun it is modifying in gender, case and number. Unusual for a VSO language, Lodatien places the adjective before the noun it modifies, unless it is in the predicative, in which it appears where the normal object would (and thus, usually, will appear after the noun). Declension The declension of adjectives is as follows: Comparative Comparative adjectives are formed by inserting “en” after the root of the adjective, and before the adjective’s ending. Superlative The superlative form is created by inserting “enst” after the adjective’s root, and before the adjectives ending. Articles In Lodatien, there is no indefinite article (English “a(n)”). Nouns introduced where an indefinite article would precede it in English simply are just the bare noun in Lodatien. However, Lodatien does have definite articles to make it easier to communicate. The definite article is declined for grammatical gender, case and number. Definite Article Declension The declension of the definite article is as follows: Pronouns In Lodatien, like English, pronouns exist to the make conversation easier and less repetitive by substituting a pronoun where a noun would be in a sentence. There are several types of pronouns used in Lodatien, such as the personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns, and demonstrative pronouns. Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns replace a person or thing in conversation. The personal pronouns in Lodatien decline for the person (first person, second person, third person), number (singular or plural), case, and in third person for gender. The declension of the personal pronouns is as follows: *For the genitive, the pronouns given here are the possessive determiner forms, which must be further declined to match the noun it modifies. They are declined just like regular adjectives. The possessive pronouns are as below: Interrogatives The Interrogative pronouns function as question words, in aid of specifying what information one would like, as well as being used in Lodatien in interrogative content clauses and adverb clauses. Some interrogative pronouns in Lodatien must be declined to agree with the noun and the pronoun’s position. In Lodatien, the following are used: * "*"indicates pronoun must be declined. The following chart illustrates the declension of “cer” (who) The following chart illustrates the declension of “ces” (which). The following chart illustrates the declension of “cend” (what). Relative Lodatien uses relative pronouns to mark a relative clause in a large sentence. This creates longer sentences and avoids using a noun repetitively. Relative pronouns must be declined to agree with the noun it replaces that is present in the main clause, and by case to show its relationship to the verb in the relative clause. The relative pronouns are declined as follows: One may notice that the declension of relative pronouns in Lodatien matches the declension of the definite article. Demonstrative A demonstrative pronoun indicates which entities a speaker refers to, and distinguishes them from other entities. In Lodatien, unlike English, there is only one demonstrative pronoun, without distinguishing distance (as English does with “this” and “that”). The demonstrative pronouns are, however, declined to agree with the noun it modifies by gender and number, and by case to indicate the role it plays in the sentence. The demonstrative pronouns are declined as so: The demonstrative pronoun closely resembles the definite article and relative pronoun declension, but has some differences. Verbs Verbs in Lodatien have a significant degree of inflection, much more than English or German, nearing that of Latin. Verbs in their finite forms are conjugated for mood, aspect, tense, and with person and number of subject. Firstly, verbs are conjugated for mood, of which there are three in Lodatien: Indicative, Subjunctive and Imperative. Aspect is conjugated on the verb, in perfect or imperfect. Tense is marked on the verb, demonstrating the time frame the action takes, took, or will take place. Finally, the verbs last ending is determined by the subject of the sentence. Conjugation Chart The following shows the prefixes and suffixes used on verbs to conjugate them. *If the stem of the verb begins with a consonant, use “''ce''” as the preffix to indicate the perfect. If the stem begins with a vowel, use “''er''” to indicate the perfect. Full Conjugation of "cufern" The following table illustrates how the verb “cufern”, to buy, is conjugated. All verbs starting with a consonant that are regular are conjugated like “cufern”. Full Conugation of "iluscern" The following table illustrates how the verb “iluscern”, to play, is conjugated. All verbs that start with a vowel are conjugated like “iluscern”. Irregular "abern" The following chart shows the complete conjugation of “abern”, to have. “Abern” is irregular and thus cannot be derived from regular conjugation. Irregular "sin" The verb “sin”, meaning to be, is highly irregular and cannot be derived from the standard conjugation. Syntax Sentences in Lodatien, like in any language, have a structure that speakers use in order to build meaning. Because nouns are declined for case, which identify their role in the sentence, sentence structure is more flexible in Lodatien when compared to English. Declaration Sentences Declarative sentences are the most common type of sentence, and are typically a statement, but could also be command or exclamation. Questions follow a different sentence structure. Although sentence structure is flexible in Lodatien, speakers have a strong preference to use the following order. A sentence always must have a subject and a verb; however the other components shown are completely optional and can be omitted or included. Subordinate Clauses Subordinating clauses are clauses that cannot stand as sentences on their own, but rather provides additional information about the main or independent clause. These clauses are connected to the main clause by a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun. Subordinate clauses are added after the main clause. Within a subordinate clause, the structure is identical to a main clause, except the clause is preceded by a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun. Questions Questions are crucial in communicating. To ask a question, a different sentence structure must be used. In addition, interrogative pronouns may be inserted in order to aid in creating a question and asking for information. This chart shows how a question is constructed in Lodatien. Every component except for subject and the verb are optional, and can be omitted. The subject and verb must be in any sentence, however. Negation Negating a sentence in Lodatien is always created through negating the verb. This is achieved by inserting a word, comparable to “not” or “doesn’t” in English in front of the verb. This word is “še”. For example: *Positive form: The man was a student. Fat te celor alsur. Literally: Was the man (a) student. *Negative form: The man was not a student. Še fat te celor alsur. Literally: Not was the man (a) student. =Regulation and Promotion= A regulator body currently does not exist currently with government authority or recognition. However, the Council for the Lodatien Language (Rasur fue tem Lodatienom Ecašul) is a private organization founded by Lodatien nationalist in early 3217, which goal is to regulate and promote the language. Category:Language Category:Lodamun Category:Lodatien